Senior Manager, Renewals at Kong

London, England, United Kingdom

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Not SpecifiedCompensation

Senior (5 to 8 years), Expert & Leadership (9+ years)Experience Level

Full TimeJob Type

UnknownVisa

Technology, SaaSIndustries

Requirements

Experience in SaaS renewals, account management or deal strategy
Experience leading or mentoring others
Proven experience building and scaling a renewals function or adjacent team from scratch
Deep understanding of SaaS unit economics, retention metrics, and customer lifecycle models
Exceptional cross-functional collaboration skills — especially with Sales, CS, Product, Finance, and Legal
Strong commercial acumen and a track record of hitting retention goals and driving upsell or margin improvements
Process-oriented mindset with a bias for systems, automation, and scale
Executive presence and communication skills; comfortable influencing C-level stakeholders

Responsibilities

Personally manage a book of strategic renewals—forecast, negotiate, close
Surface churn/expansion risks early and rally Sales, CS and Product for save plays
Stand up core dashboards and a weekly renewal forecast call
Create first-wave playbooks, email cadences and negotiation templates
Hire and mentor a small team of Renewal Managers
Refine segmentation and touch models (high-touch, pooled, auto-renew)
Formalize policies (notice periods, co-terming, discounts) with Deal Desk & Finance
Scale tooling—integrate CPQ, CS platform and billing for one-click quotes
Build the EMEA Renewals Function: Stand up the EMEA renewals organization, including hiring, tooling, playbooks, segmentation, and KPIs — from foundational processes to scalable execution
Own the Renewals Number: Take full ownership of renewal forecasting, execution, and performance globally. Deliver predictable, efficient renewal motions across all segments and regions
Design the Renewal Strategy: Define policies, timing, roles, and customer touch models (high-touch, tech-touch, auto-renew) in partnership with Sales, CS, Product, and Finance
Drive Cross-Functional Alignment: Act as the central orchestrator across Sales, CS, RevOps, Deal Desk, and Legal to ensure renewals are proactively managed and friction is minimized
Optimize Commercial Outcomes: Create mechanisms to maximize retention, expansion, and margin through thoughtful negotiation strategies, renewal plays, and pricing levers
Develop Data-Driven Rigor: Define dashboards, forecasting cadences, and risk signals to ensure the business has full visibility into renewal health and churn risk
Scale Globally: Ensure consistency in process and tooling across regions while adapting for local market and customer nuances

Skills

Key technologies and capabilities for this role

Renewals ManagementForecastingNegotiationChurn ManagementExpansion ManagementDashboardsPlaybooksEmail CadencesTeam HiringMentoringSegmentationCPQCS PlatformBilling IntegrationKPIs

Questions & Answers

Common questions about this position

What is the salary for the Senior Manager, Renewals position?

This information is not specified in the job description.

Is this role remote or does it require office work?

This information is not specified in the job description.

What skills and experience are required for this role?

The role requires experience in SaaS renewals, account management or deal strategy; experience leading or mentoring others; proven experience building and scaling a renewals function or adjacent team from scratch; and deep understanding of SaaS unit economics, retention metrics, and customer lifecycle models.

What is the company culture like at Kong?

Kong encourages candidates who don’t meet all criteria to apply anyway, as they’re looking for those particularly strong in a few areas with interest in others, fostering an inclusive and growth-oriented environment.

What makes a strong candidate for this Senior Manager role?

Strong candidates have experience building and scaling renewals functions from scratch, SaaS expertise, and leadership skills—even if they don't meet every criterion, those strong in key areas with interest in others should apply.

Kong

API management and connectivity solutions provider

About Kong

Kong focuses on API management and connectivity, providing tools that help businesses manage, secure, and optimize their APIs for software communication. Its main product, Kong Gateway, is a fast API gateway that can handle up to 50,000 transactions per second, while Kong Konnect offers a SaaS platform for API management and Kong Mesh manages microservices. Kong stands out by combining open-source technology with enterprise solutions, allowing free access to core features and offering premium services for businesses. The company's goal is to enhance developer productivity, security, and performance for a diverse range of clients in a rapidly growing market.

San Francisco, CaliforniaHeadquarters

2017Year Founded

$334.7MTotal Funding

SERIES_ECompany Stage

Data & Analytics, Enterprise SoftwareIndustries

501-1,000Employees

Benefits

Weekly Donut Chats

Home Office Stipend

Flexible Time Off & Dedicated Unplug Days

Virtual Events

Risks

AI-enhanced security threats pose significant risks to API security.

Low adoption of zero-trust architecture leaves APIs vulnerable to breaches.

Intensifying competition in AI API platforms may draw customers away from Kong.

Differentiation

Kong's API Gateway supports 50,000 transactions per second, ensuring high performance.

Kong offers a unique combination of open-source and enterprise-grade API solutions.

Kong Insomnia is the fastest-growing platform for building, testing, and debugging APIs.

Upsides

Kong raised $175M to enhance AI connectivity and expand its solutions.

Kong Insomnia surpassed 1 million users, indicating strong demand for its tools.

Kong's Premium Technology Partner Program fosters innovation and collaboration.

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